at my dojo, we have a list of rules to abide by and one of those rules is "no sparring outside of the dojo" or "no sparring matches without BB supervision" but I feel I really need to work on sparring to help my reflexes and speed. So I guess my question is, do you think I should abide by the rules and only spar when we spar in class? Or ignore it, and find a sparring partner outside of my dojo for extra practice?

-Nikita

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New hieghts are achieved once you have the courage to leave the ground

At a certain rank I think its good to spar outside of your dojo, get use to different attacks/defenses, distance and timing and comfort zones. Find yours and learn how to make the others uncomfortable. Some of my best training have been in the back yards, garages or visiting dojos. Beware that you know these people well and train/not spar with them then determine if you should spar with them. Make friends first, this is important, you can always pick it up later.

Sometimes pending rank or system people have something to prove and it becomes take no prisoners. Or survival of the fittest (maybe not the case if you are a pretty girl, but that might bring more fire, jealousy). I've heard of a student of a different system visiting a dojang and he fought nearly everybody in class one after another until he lost from sure exhaustion. Try to know what you are getting yourself into.

Visitors in my class just became part of the class, its was important that his Sensei was present or a letter from Sensei or he had good Kata so I'd know where to place him.Just because he's wearing Black belt/green belt don't mean he's really a BB/GB. Even a good Kata BB can spar (maybe not great) and not get hurt, where as a fake he may walk right into something!!!! Usually no kata no sparring in my dojo unless the guy was a boxer/wrestler in a 3kyu and up class, our rules.

I was interested in how his & our system faired but I wanted it to be on fair grounds, for the visitor.

Quote:That rule is just for the legal protection / defense of the dojo. They don't want to be blamed for any injuries sustained from sparring outside the dojo, that's all.

But you need to be more careful when sparring at home as one tends to be more rowdy with no supervision around.

Plus, coming from a technical point of view. If you do spar outside of the Dojo a great amount, and have bad habits. You will propogate those bad habits of movement (Dropping Guard, shuffling feet, leading with your head, etc, etc) much more. For there won't be anyone there correcting you or showing what you're doing incorrectly. Another little thought to throw in with The ButterFly of Doom.

Its a book on a collection of things to do or not to do to protect yourself in an urban setting.

Against the hysterical advise of my publisher, I would like to give an example.

When drinking from a cup or glass in a public place, use the left hand. Why, because the majority of people are right handed and so drink from one side of the cup or glass. Using the left hand means you will be drinking from the opposite side where less people drink from and so lessen your chances of getting more than what's in the cup or glass. This is due to the less than thorough washing of drinking utensils in public places.

I would like to also talk about the dangers of using the left-handed screwdriver, but my publisher just called and threatened to pull out, so sorry.